info_overlay
info_overlay
is a internal point entity available in all Source games.
Entity description
The overlay is a more powerful version of a standard decal: it can be resized, rotated, scaled, and distorted. It is automatically placed when you use the Hammer Overlay Tool. The sides keyvalue is automatically set when placed in this manner. If you need the overlay to span multiple faces, open the overlay's properties in SmartEdit mode, choose Brush Faces and then <Ctrl>-Click in the camera window to add more faces.


The info_overlays are all packed into a special lump in the BSP file. To enable accesses by name, a info_overlay_accessor entity is created in the compiled map, which translates targetnames to info_overlay ID numbers.

Caveats and Bugs
- Info_Overlays will only work on world brushes or func_detail, not any entity type.
- The material name can only be 256 characters long at maximum.
- There can be a maximum of 512 overlays in a single map. This limit was raised to 1024 for CS:GO.
- If an overlay is set on a spot which has several (over 64) faces near by, the overlay will count these even if the faces arent set to the overlay. This will then cause VSBP to crash on compile with "Abnormal Exit in VBSP ParseLog causght! Catch: in vbsp_finish!"

Distorting overlays
If the overlay is not yet placed, select the overlay tool and your material, and click where you wish the center of the overlay to be. You should now see 4 white boxes at the edges of the overlay, and you may drag them about to distort it.
If you wish to distort an existing overlay, first select the overlay you wish to edit, and then select the overlay tool. Then you should be able to distort the overlay as described above. If the overlay does not respond, try deleting it and then following the above procedure.
Keyvalues
- Name
<targetname>
- Name of the overlay. Used to access the overlay with an env_texturetoggle.
- Material
<material>
- The material to overlay.
- Brush faces
<sidelist>
- Faces on which the overlay will be applied.
- RenderOrder
<integer>
- Higher values render after lower values (on top). This value can be 0–3.
- U Start, U End
<float>
- Texture coordinates for the image X-axis. This normally starts at zero (left) and goes to 1 (right). Adjust values to change position and scaling.
- V Start, V End
<float>
- Texture coordinates for the image Y-axis. This normally starts at zero (top) and goes to 1 (bottom). Adjust values to change position and scaling.
- Overlay Basis Origin (Read-Only)
<Vector>
- Offset of the surface from the position of the overlay entity.
- Overlay Basis U (Read-Only)
<Vector>
- Direction of the material's X-axis.
- Overlay Basis V (Read-Only)
<Vector>
- Direction of the material's Y-axis.
- Overlay Basis Normal (Read-Only)
<Vector>
- Direction out of the surface.
- Start Fade Dist
<float>
- Distance at which the overlay starts to fade (<0 = use fademaxdist).
- End Fade Dist
<float>
- Maximum distance at which the overlay is visible (0 = don't fade out).